Caesar Goes to War
In Revelation, the language of war is used to portray the persecution of the saints by the World Empire. Revelation shows no
interest in conventional or nuclear warfare between nations. Instead, the
“Dragon” strives to annihilate the church before his allotted time
expires, and he employs deception and persecution in doing so.
In the image of a “beast rising from the
sea” to wage “war against the saints,” the book’s original audience almost
certainly would have perceived a reference to the imperial rulers of the
province of Asia from across the Mediterranean Sea at the center of the empire,
Rome.
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| [Photo by Diana van Ormondt on Unsplash] |
While the Roman Empire did not exhaust the application of the prophecy, it was the sixth of the seven kingdoms represented by the Beast’s “seven heads,” namely, the “seven mountains” on which Babylon sits, and the World-Power in John’s time (“the one is” – Revelation 17:10).
THE WAR
In Revelation, references to “war”
employ the Greek verb polemeō and its noun form, polemos. When
the noun form is used, it is always singular and accompanied by a
definite article. It is THE “war.”
Both the noun and verb are applied to the
cosmic battle pictured in chapter 12 when “war (polemos) arose
in heaven” between the “Dragon and his angels” and “Michael and
his angels.”
Expelled from heaven, Satan wages brutal
combat against those who have the “testimony of Jesus.” The “battles”
are fought between the “Dragon” and the “Lamb” through their
respective earthly followers – (Revelation 12:1-17).
This war manifests in the daily lives of
Christians as they struggle with deceivers within the church, and when they endure
pressure and persecution from the surrounding society and governing authorities.
This has been the story of the saints for the last twenty centuries. Empires
come and go but the church remains, and the war between Jesus and Satan rages
on unabated.
But the day is coming when the Devil will assemble
all his forces for one last-ditch effort to annihilate the people of God.
BEAST FROM THE ABYSS
The “Beast”
first appears as it is “ascending from the Abyss” to destroy the “Two
Witnesses.” The Greek verb rendered “overcome” in the passage, or nikaō,
means to “conquer, overcome.” It is the same verb found in the letters to the
seven churches in the several exhortations for believers “to overcome” -
(Revelation 11:7).
Its ascent results
in the Beast’s “victory” over the “Two Witnesses.” However, the “Beast”
will not be unleashed to kill them until they have “completed” their
prophetic “testimony.”
The “Two Witnesses” are not two individuals but “two lampstands.” In Revelation, “lampstands” represent churches. The “war” against them represents the persecution of the church by the “Beast.”
But though the
“Beast” overcomes and kills the “Two Witnesses,” it will be a hollow
victory, one quickly overturned by the intervention of God when He raises them
from the dead and the seventh trumpet sounds, ushering in the “day of the
Lord” and the time of final judgment - (Revelation 1:20, 11:15-19).
THE DRAGON
In chapter
12, Satan is defeated and cast out of heaven.
Enraged, and knowing he has been allotted only a “short season” to
execute his plans, he lashes out by “making war” on those “who are
keeping the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus,” namely,
the saints.
The same
reality is in view that was portrayed in chapter 11 when the “Beast” rose
from the “Abyss” to kill the “Two Witnesses,” though now it is
told from a different perspective.
As before, the
forces of Satan wage “war” on the followers of the “Lamb,” the woman’s
“seed.” He does not make war on nation-states or against conventional
armies.
At the end
of the chapter, the “Dragon” is found on the seashore as he summons his
own “seed” to ascend from the sea to carry out his war against the “seed
of the woman” - (Revelation 12:12-17).
BEAST FROM THE SEA
Next, John sees
the “Beast ascending from the sea,” an image parallel to the “Beast ascending
from the Abyss.” Once again, the same event or reality is in view.
Rather than
resist the “Beast,” the “inhabitants of the earth” are overawed
by its irresistible power - “Who is like the Beast and who can make war with
it?” No resistance or revolt is raised against this beastly empire by the
nations of the earth - (Revelation 13:1-4).
After
receiving the authority of the “Dragon,” the “Beast” launches its
“military campaign” against the “saints.” Moreover, it “overcomes
(nikésai) them,” that is, it kills them. However, it can only do so when
and within the limits authorized by the “Lamb” – (“It was given to
the Beast…” - Revelation 13:7).
The same term
for “war” found in chapters 11 and 12 is employed in chapter 13 to
describe the Beast’s “WAR on the saints.” All three passages allude to the
same verse in the book of Daniel that describes the attack on the “saints”
by the “little horn” from the fourth kingdom:
- (Daniel 7:21) - “I continued looking when this horn made war with the holy ones and prevailed against them: until that the Ancient of Days came, and justice was granted to the holy ones of the Highest, and the time arrived that the holy ones should possess the kingdom.”
Just as the
“Beast from the Abyss” attacked the “Two Witnesses,” so also the “Beast
from the sea” makes war on “the saints.” In both visions, the same “war,”
singular, is in view. Whether the “Beast” also conducts military
campaigns against other nations is not the concern of the book of Revelation.
It focuses solely on Satan’s efforts to destroy the church.
Elsewhere, the
term “saints” refers to men who follow the “Lamb wherever he goes,”
to those who refuse to bow to the “Beast” and who have the “testimony
of Jesus” - (Revelation 5:8, 8:3-4, 11:18, 13:7-10, 14:12, 16:6, 17:6, 18:20-24,
19:8, 20:6-9).
This “war”
results in the “captivity” and death of the “saints.” The violent
assault is described as the “perseverance and the faith of the saints” -
(Compare - Revelation 1:9, 2:2-3, 2:19, 3:10, 14:12).
SUMMARY
The battle scenes
in Revelation are not literal descriptions of warfare between nation-states,
but assaults by Satan and his minions against the people of the “Lamb.” The
cosmic battles in the heavens manifest in the daily lives of Christians as they
struggle with false teachers, false prophets, deception, and persecution.
From its
inception, persecution and deceivers have been common realities in the church. The
visions of Revelation expose the true source of Christian suffering and
provide insight into the opposition experienced in the daily lives of the “saints.”
The book
begins with the old Roman Empire but does not end with it. It foresees a final
assault by Satan against the Church just prior to the final judgment, a “war”
it portrays in several ways with language found in the book of Daniel.
In the end,
that final satanic assault will cause the “Lamb” to intervene directly by
destroying his enemies and delivering his people into the coming New Creation,
the city of “New Jerusalem.” The only World-Power that will be left
standing is the Kingdom of God (“The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of
our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign forever and ever”).
